


How Prompto Leonis Nearly Usurped The Lucian Throne

by TheDarkestDandelion



Series: The Daemon, the Soldier and a Stolen Bio-Weapon AU [72]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Accidents, Anger, Cerbie is Best Boy, Confused Prompto Argentum, Cor Leonis In Pain, Family Secrets, Fear, Headaches & Migraines, High School, M/M, Minor Angst, Multi, Parent Ardyn Izunia, Parent Cor Leonis, Past Violence, Phone Calls, Poor Prompto Argentum, Poor Regis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum Is Innocent, Regis Lucis Caelum Being Smart, School Work, Somnus Lucis Caelum Having A Crisis, Tears, assignment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:40:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkestDandelion/pseuds/TheDarkestDandelion
Summary: It was just a history assignment. A boring school 7th grade history assignment. It should mean nothing. Absolutely nothing.Other than the fact Prompto has claimed that his dad, Ardyn Lucis Caelum, should have been the Founder King over his uncle, Somnus Lucis Caelum.But that's not enough to cause mass panic surely? It's just a history assignment after all right?
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia & Somnus Lucis Caelum, Ardyn Izunia/Cor Leonis, Prompto Argentum & Ardyn Izunia & Cor Leonis
Series: The Daemon, the Soldier and a Stolen Bio-Weapon AU [72]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1310333
Comments: 21
Kudos: 66





	1. It's Just An Essay!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WhoStarLocked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoStarLocked/gifts).



> Thank you WhoStarLocked for letting me nab this idea from you! You is the best XD 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this shitstorm I am about to unleash. 
> 
> Please enjoy :)

Cor was sitting at the table in his living room with Cerbie curled up over his feet, while he typed up the rosta for the next few months of training when his phone started buzzing. Cor raised an eyebrow at the caller ID. It was from Prom’s school. This couldn’t be good. Cor brought the phone to his ear and began to think up as many possible scenarios as he could as to why the school was ringing him about his 13-year-old son. Wait a second, why were they calling him? Their first port of call was usually Ardyn. Thinking that they must not have been able to reach his husband; Cor cleared his throat and spoke before the person on the phone got a chance too. 

“Marshal Leonis speaking.” 

“ _ Good afternoon, Marshal. I am Prompto’s history teacher, Marcus Spinner, I wouldn’t usually do this but I am a little confused about the assignment that Prompto recently handed in. _ ” 

Cor frowned, staring at the screen in front of him blankly briefly before glancing his eyes down towards the time at the bottom of the screen. It was 17:30. What was so important about an stupid essay that could not have waited until tomorrow? “Umm… okay.” 

Cor heard Mr Spinner take in a deep breath before continuing to explain the situation. “ _ I instructed the class to write an assignment on the Founding of Lucis. Prompto has written a… questionable tale about how our Founder King acquired the throne. _ ” 

“Tale?” Cor said, he stopped typing so he could place all his attention on to this conversation. He felt Cerbie sit up and one of his dog’s heads fell into his lap, apparently Cerbie was just as confused as he was. What was this man on about? 

“ _ Yes. He has written here that, and please pardon me if I am speaking out of term Marshal, that his Former Majesty murdered the first Oracle, Aera Mirus Fleuret, to obtain the throne. And that His Grace was only branded as the Adagium after His Former Majesty murdered him and seized the throne for himself. Apparently, and I quote from your son’s assignment ‘Somnus Lucis Caelum ostracised his older brother before the crystal had chosen its champion. Only when the crystal selected Ardyn Lucis Caelum over Somnus Lucis Caelum, did the younger of the two take action and seize the throne for himself. Since history is written by the victors, there is no recorded evidence of this ever occurring.’ This would mean that His Grace is the rightful King of Lucis.”  _

Cor’s eyes went wide with shock. Prompto had fucking written what?! The Marshal shook his head in disbelief over what he was hearing and slumped back into his chair. Shit! Cor didn’t realise he had gone silent until Cerbie started to nudge him and began whimpering. And when Mr Spinner cleared his throat, Cor tried to think up an excuse for his son’s fucking school work quickly. 

“Right… You see, Mr Spinner, Prom and his Former Majesty had a bit of a disagreement last week. He probably wrote the assignment out of spite. Please feel free to give him a zero for lying on an essay.” Cor said in a voice filled with disappointment, so it masked the clear panic that was rapidly taking over him. Shit, all of that was meant to be a fucking secret! What the public knew about the founding of Lucis was that Ardyn was a daemon and Somnus was selected by the Crystal and the Gods to save them all from the darkness. And Prompto had just gone and written the whole truth as a fucking essay! This was not good at all, the Marshal just prayed that the teacher believe the pile of crap he was trying to sell him. When Cerbie buried one of his heads with his paws, Cor couldn’t help but cringed. Yep that was a terrible lie. 

“ _ That’s the thing Marshal. He has used both His Grace and His Former Majesty as sources _ . _ I’ll send you a copy via email now. _ ” Mr Spinner continued, as Cor remained speechless.  _ “Prompto has also claimed that His Grace and the first Oracle were engaged to be married, along with the fact that His Grace was a legendary healer who could cure people afflicted with the starscourge. As far as I am aware none of this is true?” _

Cor closed his eyes in panic, and without meaning too he whispered just loud enough for Prom’s teacher to hear him. “...Fuck.” 

_ “What? It’s true?! All of what your son has written is true?!” _ Mr Spinner yelled with shocked excitement. 

“No!” Cor shouted down the line fear taking hold of him. Cerbie barked loudly, forcing Cor to stroke all of his heads to try and calm him down before speaking again. “No, it is not. As I said before, His Former Majesty and my son had a disagreement the other week. It is merely my son’s idea of a joke, nothing more.” 

_ “Marshal he cited the Founder King himself! This is revolutionary! Is there any chance I could speak with both His Grace and His Former Majesty. I mean… do I have to start calling His Grace, His Majesty now?! This is incredible!” _

“It’s not true! What my son has written is nothing but fiction! It’s a li-” Cor tried his hardest to get through to the man but his words of pure excitement cut him off.

_ “This story is too important to let go! I’ll just go to the Citadel and get an interview with him myself!”  _

“No don’t do that-” 

Cor tried to say but the line went dead. 

All Cor could do was let go a nervous fearful laugh and stare down at his three headed daemon dog who didn’t seem to be at all bothered by any of this now. Of course he wouldn’t be either. Any chance Cerbie got to hurt Somnus or see him humiliated in any way he’d happily let it happen. Cerberus was probably thinking that this was a good thing because it meant his dada could finally sit the throne if everyone knew the truth. 

THIS WAS NOT A GOOD THING! 

Cor quickly logged on to his emails and there it was. Prom’s essay. In bold. Not wasting another second, Cor opened it, read it and covered his mouth with his hands. Prom’s teacher was right. Prompto had just fucking revealed the crown’s biggest secret and now it was on his schools fucking system! 

Shit! 

There were no words in the Lucian language that could describe how bad this was right now. 

“Dad?! I am home!” 

Prom’s cheery voice filled his ears and something within the Marshal snapped. He rose from his chair and waited until Prompto came into the living room before unleashing hellfires on him. 

“PROMPTO LEONIS!!! WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?!” 

“Huh?” Prom flinched at the tone of his dad’s voice. In a voice smothered in innocence and confusion he stared at Cor. “What? I haven’t done anything.”

“Oh really?! Come here and read that!” Cor shouted pointing at his laptop, ignoring the low growls that Cerbie was giving him. 

Prompto immediately did as he was told. He sat down in the chair that his dad had previously been occupying and read his work. Cerbie did his best to keep his little brother feeling safe by giving him licks and staring at their daddy as a warning not to shout at the purest thing that had ever lived on Eos again. Cor simply paid no mind to their dog. The Marshal was beyond furious and scared and he really needed to phone Regis and Somnus. This was a fucking national emergency and he was wasting his time yelling at his son. Prom’s innocent demeanour was not helping matters either. It was only making Cor angerier and stressed. 

Prom looked up at his dad glassy eyed, so confused as to what was wrong. “My history essay? I got an A* on it, I’d thought you would be proud.” 

“I don’t care about your grade at the moment Prompto! I am more concerned about what you wrote!” Cor shouted again, unable to remove either the anger, panic or frustration from his voice. 

“But… but none of it’s wrong.” Prom said, feeling his face go red as Cerbie cuddled up to his legs more. 

Cor covered his face and tried his hardest not to scream. “All of that is meant to be a secret! A bloody secret! And you go and write it on a fucking essay! Do you have any idea what could happen if that gets out into the media Prom?! Do you have any idea what could happen to our family if people find some validity to this?!” 

“But it’s just a history assignment… I… I didn’t think…” Prom stuttered eyes swelling up with tears, still not understanding what his actions may cause. 

“Yes Prompto I can see that!” 

“I am sorry. Please don’t be mad at me…” 

Cor’s heart would have usually sunk upon hearing his child saying that if this was any other time. But his panic for their family’s safety was putting The Marshal on mission mode and right now he had to get his anger out before he could form a coherent plan in his head as to what they should do. This was so bad. So fucking bad! Before Cor could start going on a rant about why this was catastrophically bad, Cerbie ran out from under the table and started viciously barking at Cor to tell him to stop scaring Prompto. Cor didn’t even get a chance to hush their dog as Ardyn’s voice saw to that instead. 

“Now, now, now, what is all this racket for?! I heard shouting and barking before I got a chance to open the door.” 

“I don’t know. Dad’s cross at me for doing my homework.” Prom said innocently, eyes stinging with tears of confusion, as he looked away from the screen towards his dada.

“Cross? My Marshal, we shouldn’t be mad at him for doing his school work. We should be encouraging him to do it.” Ardyn said, unsure of what the hell was going on. But Prompto looked like he was about to burst into tears… whatever this was, Ardyn was starting to get angry at his husband for possibly causing their son’s sorrow.

“Oh yeah! Read what our son has written then!” Cor growled, fury still radiating from his being, pointing at the screen. 

“Fine. Fine.” Ardyn said, raising his hands in the air, walking over to Cor’s laptop. He quickly ruffled Prom’s hair to tell him he wasn’t mad at him at all before he started reading. “Okay what do we have here. ‘The Rise and Fall of Kings: The Founding of the Lucian Kingdom by Prompto Leonis….” 

The room remained silent as Ardyn skimmed through the paper and what he could make out about the work, it was pretty good so far. Everything was cited correctly, it was coherent, the structure of the work was done ever so professionally and it was an entertaining read. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he got on to the final paragraph before the conclusion. Ardyn had to rub his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things. He couldn’t help but read aloud in angry shock a part of his son’s essay.

“... Somnus Lucis Caelum betrayed the trust of the Oracle and accidentally murdered her when she tried to get in between the brother’s fighting!” Ardyn snapped his head towards his son and Ardyn could not hide the rage that was coating his now glowing yellow eyes. “You wrote this and submitted it to your school?! My private life?! You submitted that?!”

“Yeah… you helped me write it dad!” Prompto said in a weak voice trying to defend himself as he sunk back into the chair, eyes really filling up with tears now. 

“NO! No I did not! I would never give you permission to submit this or help you write it!” 

“But… But I used you as a source. I interviewed you and everything! And uncle Somnus too! Remember the other week when I asked for your help on our family history?” 

“Ardyn you fucking idoit!” Cor huffed closing his eyes as his panic began to reach it’s peak. 

“I’m the idiot?!” Ardyn asked, anger lacing his words as he glared at Cor. 

“Yes, you should have asked Prompto what he wanted the information for. But there is no point in blaming anyone. The main problem right now is not Prompto writing this essay; our main problem is that his history teacher believes what Prom has written is complete fact!” 

Ardyn let out a dark laugh as he moved away from his son so he could pace up and down the room. Ardyn’s day had already been filled to the brim with utter crap, now he had come back home to his child, his own son, trying to destroy the foundations of the Kingdom they lived in. Brilliant! Bloody brilliant! The cherry on top of this cake was that someone believed his son. 

Ardyn breathed out and shot his son a quick glance, still walking up and down the room quickly. “Oh Somnus is going to kill you.” 

“Why? I don’t understand… It’s just an essay. Nothing more!” Prom protested, rising from his chair. 

“Prompto do you want to usurp the throne from your uncle Regis?!” Ardyn asked, trying not to laugh further, because this situation was not funny at all. 

“What?! No! Of course not! I love uncle Regis!” Prom shouted back. He nearly sounded disgusted by his dads words

“You writing that has just confirmed that I should sit the throne not him! You have also proved that our family, more importantly that Somnus, has been lying for centuries about his line’s claim to the throne. If people were to discover the truth, do you really think they will want Somnus, Regis or Noctis leading this country?! Do you really think they will let Regis continue to be King?! Because I don’t!” 

Silence overcame the room as the realisation hit Prom. The poor boy began to shake with fear… no, he didn’t want that! No! He felt Cerbie lick at his legs, but Prompto didn’t feel like he deserved the comfort. Oh no… this was all his fault.

Prompto looked rapidly between his dads and shook his head in fear. “No! I never meant for that to happen! I just wanted to get a good grade!” 

“Well you’ve got one!” Ardyn screamed that time unable to keep his own fear at bay. He took in a deep breath and pointed towards the door. “I am very disappointed in you! Go upstairs! I can’t even look at you right now!”

“I am sorry.” Prompto let out a small timid whimper before running upstairs in tears. 

Cerbie quickly followed Prompto because he didn’t want his little brother to be alone for one moment, leaving Cor and Ardyn in the living room. Ardyn quickly read through the essay one more time, and when he got to the end of it he slammed his fist into the table. Thankfully he didn’t break it, but the noise still made Cor jump. This was not good. When Cor thought Ardyn was listening to him, he explained what Mr Spinner had said and that they really needed to think up something quick before the man decided to tell the story to the press. They knew they had to go to the Citadel, because that was where Spinner said he was heading and inform both Regis and Somnus over what had transpired. Cor honestly didn’t think that this situation could get any worse than it already was, but he was so wrong. Before they left Ardyn suddenly remembered that when he infected Verstael Besithia with the starscourge, he got a tiny bit of his memories. The memory he got was that Verstael had found some old Lucian texts pointing at Ardyn’s rightful claim to the throne. But because he knew no one would believe him and Ardyn and Somnus could just deny it, he never published it. However, now that Prompto had written this and had used both Somnus and Ardyn as sources, it meant that Verstael’s claim would be true and this scandal had the potential to destroy Lucis from the inside out. They had to deal with this situation quickly and they had to do it now. 

How could all this bullcrap happen from one simple essay?! 


	2. It's Just Business

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummmm this is so so so so so so so so so late. And I am so so so so so so so so so so sorry about that! There is no excuse there than the fact writer's block was mean to me XD 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy how they get themselves out of this pickle XD

Prompto couldn’t stop crying as he hugged Cerbie tightly, sitting on Noctis’s bed. The poor boy had never meant for any of this… it was an accident! Why couldn’t anyone understand that?! All Prom wanted to do was to make his dads proud of him by getting a really good grade in his history class and now Regis and Noctis might get forced out of their home and their livelihoods! As for Somnus he could be put in prison for years for what he did to his dad and all the lying that had been told over these 2000 years. Prompto thought he was such a horrible person for causing all this chaos. No amount of licks and cuddles from his wonderful dog - that he now thought he did not deserve - was ever going to make him think otherwise. 

“Prom… come on, it’s not that bad.” Noctis said, failing miserably at trying to comfort his best friend. Where was Iggy when he was needed?

“It is Noct. I am so sorry. Please forgive me?” Prompto whimpered, wiping his face into one of Cerbie’s necks. 

“Of course I do! And don’t worry. It’s not like I ever wanted to be King anyway. You are doing me a favour here pal.” Noctis laughed, stroking one of Cerbie’s heads that was resting comfortably in his lap. 

“No Noct. This is really, really bad. My dads were so angry.” 

“I am sure they aren’t that mad, it was probably just a shock that’s all. My dad won’t be mad anyway.” 

“He should be! I have either committed treason by ‘lying’ and trying to take the crown from you both, or I will successfully take it from you and be the new Prince of Lucis.” Prompto sniffed, feeling one of Cerbie’s paw tap his leg. His dog was trying so hard to calm him down but it just was not working. “I really fucked up everything, haven’t I?”

Noctis shook his head violently. Yeah it was a bit of a shock that Prompto had written this and unknowingly tried to usurp the throne right from under their noses, but Noctis was finding this fucking hilarious! This was Prompto after all. The nicest person Noct knew. For the love of the Six, Prompto wouldn’t even hurt a fly on purpose and if he did he would probably burst into tears over it. Noctis didn’t blame him and he knew for certain that his dad wouldn’t either. His dad might even find this as funny as he was finding it, but… Prompto didn’t need to hear that. He needed assurance in that everything was going to be okay. It was. No matter the outcome. They would get through it together as a family. 

Noctis smiled and placed a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “No. No, of course not! Listen Prom, grandad must have known that this was bound to happen eventually. He can be smart sometimes, so he probably has something in place if this ever was to happen. Don’t worry. It will all work out. I promise.” 

“You… you really think so?” Prompto asked with a tiny amount of hope making its way into his voice. 

“Yep. Trust me.”

* * *

Somnus had not put anything in place. 

Nothing!!!

There was no procedure if an incident like this was ever to occur and the Founder King was freaking out. The one time he had agreed to tell Prompto about the dark past that he and Ardyn shared and it turned into this shit storm! The only solution that was springing to the old King’s head was that they could lock the person up and keep their mouths shut that way, but Regis had already said that was not an option because of freedom of speech and all that crap. Somnus could feel his heart race like mad, he was so thankful Clarus was standing outside the room not letting anyone enter, he thought he was going to have a fucking panic attack with this news. He could be killed over this! Or worse, Regis and Noctis could lose their right to the throne and everything over this! This wasn’t happening! This wasn’t allowed to happen! Why hadn’t he ever thought this would get out before?! He was a fucking idiot! An idiot!

When the room fell silent for a third time in the last 10 minutes, Somnus couldn’t take it. They needed to sort this out and now! 

“Angelgard.” 

“Excuse me?!” Ardyn shouted in a very offended tone, glaring at his brother. “I haven’t done anything to deserve that!” 

“I didn’t mean you! I meant for me!” Somnus bit back, before turning his attention to Regis who was still staring down at Prom’s essay. “It only seems right. It’s a good enough punishment for me, wouldn’t you agree Regis? That way the blame would be lessened on you, if I take the full fall. We could even say that you knew nothing of this.”

“No, of course I don’t think that is a good idea. We are a family and if one of us falls we all do. I just… you two are stupid! Why did you let him do this?!” Regis said, dropping the paper onto the table in an exhausted voice. He was meant to be having dinner with Noctis right now. Why did shit always seem to happen the only time he had free to spend with his son? 

“I am his father! He has a right to know how things really took place! But if I had known he was going to write it down, I wouldn’t have told him!” 

“Prom is a smart kid. Apparently too smart because he thought he could use it in his essay.” Cor grumbled, sitting next to Regis with his face buried in his hands. All of this stress was giving him a migraine. 

“Okay, so how do we fix this?! We need to have an idea! Anything!” Somnus shouted, his panic was becoming visible to all in the room now. 

Regis blinked and did his best to calm the situation down. “Grandfather, don’t panic, everything will be okay. What we need to do is remain calm and think about this logically. We have been in worse situations before.” 

“Well you better hurry up and think, because Mr Spinner is on his way over here now.” Cor added, with his eyes closed. His head was really starting to hurt now. 

Everyone let out a sigh as silence settled once more. Only the Houses of Caelum and Amicitia (and now Leonis since Cor got into his relationship with Ardyn) knew of any of this and that was how it was meant to stay. However, this was such a fucking inconvenient rule, because no matter how annoying the council were, Regis could really use their input right now. But they couldn’t get involved. They would probably have Somnus shipped off to Angelgard in a blink of an eye for all the lies he told and the betrayal he inflicted upon Ardyn and the Gods. It was a tricky situation and this Mr Spinner wanted to tell someone they would all be fucked. Especially Somnus. 

Ardyn took off his hat and placed it on Cor’s head to block out the light for him, before coming up with a suggestion. “I guess… we could buy them out. Or... if they worst comes to the worst I could say that I want Regis to have the throne.” 

“That only deals with one problem, if you say that Regis is King!” Somnus snapped. “The other problems are Tenebrae! I murdered Aera, their Oracle, and they still don’t know I did that! Not to mention the support and trust of the people of Lucis! These are all pretty big issues that a simple decree is not going to remove!” 

“I understand you are scared but stop shouting at me. I don’t want to see anyone, not even you, being ostracised like I was. I won’t let that happen to you Somnus. I promise. Now stop shouting Cor has a migraine.” 

Regis shook his head and thought to himself:  _ ‘I thought my father’s reign was going to be the fall of Lucis. Why does it have to be mine?’ _ . 

While Ardyn and Somnus continued to bicker about remaining quiet, Regis sat in his chair and tried to think of a way out of this. There had to be a way surely. There was always a way. The only other two people that could help were either standing outside the door, so no one heard what was going on, or had his head on the table in serious pain. So much for relying on advisors for help? Just as Regis had had enough of arguing the doors to the room opened and Clarus hurried in quickly, thankfully it caused Ardyn and Somnus to stop whatever on Eos they were talking about. 

“Regis. A man is at the gate, requesting an audience with Somnus.” Clarus said with a stoned expression.

“You didn’t think quick enough.” Cor said with a small laugh that quickly turned into a wince of pain. 

“Shut up Leonis!” Somnus screamed back, knowing that they were now officially out of time. And panic had full control over him now. 

“Somnus I told you to stop shouting!” Ardyn barked back, rubbing his husband’s back for him.

“Both of you shut up! We need to decide what we’re going to do.” Regis said, silencing the pair as he tapped Cor’s arm to apologise for being louder than what was necessary. “Clarus, bring them in, only… take your time? And don’t talk about this situation through the Citadel.”

Clarus gave Regis a flat look, saying:  _ How the hell am I meant to prevent that?  _ Nevertheless, Clarus nodded and did as he was told. 

“If anyone has any bright ideas, now is the time to voice them.” Ardyn breathed out, a hint of fear was starting to build in his chest. He didn’t want to see anything bad happen to his family. 

For a while nothing was said. Regis was deep in thought and Cor had pulled his arms over his head to block out what little light he could. As for Ardyn, his brain was going into overdrive worrying about Cor’s head. Worrying about Regis, Somnus and Noctis and the fact that their home could be taken away from them. He was worrying about Prom crying and that he had been partly the cause of that. Lastly he was worrying about the fact his own personal life could be plastered all over Eos in a matter of hours. Ardyn looked over towards his brother and he didn’t think he would ever feel sorry for Somnus in this moment but his poor little brother looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown. Ardyn truly wanted to help him but right now there was nothing he could do to help his brother, nor his husband’s seething headache. As for Somnus, he couldn't keep still and he was fidgeting all over the place, thinking up everything that could happen to him if this was to get out. Other than Somnus fidgeting, the room was so quiet that they could hear people walking outside the room and sooner rather than later they heard Clarus’s gruff voice silencing someone. 

“We’re screwed.” Somnus said abruptly. Maybe they should just pay for the bastard’s silence! Right now, Somnus was willing to pay anything to them so they would keep their mouths shut. 

“Grandfather that is enough! In fact, I don’t want anyone to say a word.” Regis commanded, looking at the door, as an idea had just sparked into his head. 

“Regis, they want to speak to us!” 

“Yes, and I am not going to give them that. So just shut up and let me do the talking.” 

“Reggie…” Ardyn said unsure of what the hell his nephew was doing. 

“Ardyn. Stop. If either of you speak you are both on late night meetings for the rest of the month.” Regis ordered, forcing the brothers to shut up. 

The King took in a deep breath. As the door opened he forced his discomfort to turn into a smile as Clarus and Noct’s and Prom’s teacher approached them. 

“Good evening Mr Spinner.” Regis greeted the teacher with nothing but respect. 

“Your Majesty.” Spinner bowed. 

“I do hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long.” Regis smiled, gesturing for the teacher to take a seat opposite him.

“Not at all.” Mr Spinner replied, pulling his chair in. 

Regis nodded. “Good. I understand that you would like to speak with his Former Majesty and His Grace about an unexpected series of events my nephew has written about.” 

“I would indeed. I gather you have read it?” 

“That I have.” 

“What do you think of it?” Mr Spinner asked with a small grin. Regis could tell how eager he was to learn the truth. 

“Oh I am fully aware that the contents of this essay is entirely factual.” 

Mr Spinner let out a sharp gasp, as Ardyn, Somnus and Clarus stared at Regis, completely taken back by the fact he had so willingly confirmed it! Had he lost his fucking mind?! Ardyn thought so. Their entire family was at risk now. Ardyn was going to intervene and make up an excuse and attempted to put doubt in the teachers mind. But Regis held up his hand and refused to allow his uncle to speak.

Regis sighed and leant back in his chair. “Did you think I was going to lie to you, Mr Spinner?” 

Spinner shook his head and started to stutter. “No, No. I mean no your Majesty. This is just a lot to take in. I mean, this rewrites everything! Your Grace, why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I am afraid His Grace won’t be speaking through the duration of our talk, neither will His Former Majesty, so you will just have to talk to me instead.” Regis spoke before Ardyn had a chance to. 

This action only caused both Ardyn’s and Somnus’s fear and worries to escalate. For they had no idea what the hell the King was doing or where this was going. Like the fucking hell was this teacher ever going to accept that! And Regis was not willing to allow Spinner to question him on the matter and carried on with the conversation.

“I presume, you want to write a paper on this?” Regis asked, quickly sparing a glance towards Clarus to assure him he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Of course I will be!” Mr Spinner stated without hesitation. “This is the biggest news since the fall of Tenebrae.” 

“Quite. But tell me, how are you going to write a paper based on evidence that clearly isn’t your own and on a school project? Who will believe it?” Regis asked, face hardening.

Silence fell briefly as Regis and Spinner stared at each other. When finally Spinner spoke he did not sound at all impressed. “Are you threatening me, Your Majesty? You won’t buy my silence.” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Freedom of speech is something I am very passionate about. However, I have the right to deny all of this and so does my grandfather and my uncle. Furthermore, this is my nephew’s work. Even if you wanted to publish anything, you would have to ask his permission to use his work first. That is correct, isn’t Clarus? Otherwise Mr Spinner here could be charged on the grounds of plagiarism?” 

Clarus blinked. He did not expect Regis to think of something like that on the spot. “Ah… Yes, your Majesty.” 

“Good.” Regis smiled and turned his attention back to Mr Spinner who was currently trying to think of how to get over this clearly unforseen herdle. Before he got a chance to, Regis carried on speaking. “Of course, you could try and get Prompto Leonis’s permission but… he is a 14 year old boy. He isn’t old enough by the law of Lucis to give consent over anything without a parent or guardian's permission. Considering His Grace is his parent, shall we ask him? Ardyn?” 

Ardyn was just as taken back as Clarus was. He was very impressed by Regis’s way of thinking. “No, I am afraid I do not Regis.” 

“And considering Marshal Leonis is currently experiencing a migraine he can not possibly give you his consent either. Unfortunately Mr Spinner, writing an article on your findings at all will be considered plagiarism and you will serve time for that offence if I see anything in the news about my family’s claim to the throne that involves my uncle’s right to it.” 

“Wait just a secon-” 

“Also, this work is the property of a student. I am guessing that you would be able to overcome this hiccup of plagiarism somehow by selling it to the Niffs or something like that. However, this is a student’s work. They wrote this for you with the confidence that their grades and their work would not be shared with anyone. Breaking student-teacher confidentiality is also a criminal offence. You will lose your teachers license and no one will take your word seriously. Likewise, a claim like this against my family can be considered an act of terrorism, as you are attempting to dethrone me. My grandfather is the one that usually deals with matters such as that, he is not someone you want to be on the wrong side of. Like I said, I can’t stop you from saying anything. But I can make you aware of the consequences that it will entail.” Regis said, happy that he had put the man into a stunned silence. He felt three sets of eyes staring at him like he wasn’t Regis Lucis Caelum anymore. He was offended by that. Regis was smart, he just didn’t like to show it most of the time is all… He got a piece of paper and pen out of his armiger and scribbled down some lines as he spoke once more. “Is that all? Or would you like to sign an agreement with me; claiming that you won’t ever repeat what we have discussed today? Because if this gets out, I am within my rights, even if it isn’t you, to assume that you were the one who said it. I would hate to arrest you for no reason.”

Regis slid the paper and pen across the table and waited for the man to make his move or speak again. Thankfully he didn’t speak. Mr Spinner, leant forward and signed without further questioning. He didn’t even wait to be given permission to leave. He practically threw the paper at Regis and stormed out. 

“Leave him.” Regis commanded the room in case anyone tried to call him back. “I don’t want to anger him any further. Anyway, grandfather, uncle. You are welcome.”

“How the hell did  _ you _ come up with something like that?!” Somnus shouted in disbelief.

Regis rolled his eyes. “I am a politician. I do understand the laws of my own Kingdom, grandfather. Ardyn I think you should get Cor to bed and take Prompto home and tell him he has nothing to worry about. On that note, I am going to have dinner with my son. Have a nice night everyone.”

* * *

“Everything is really okay? And you aren’t cross?” Prompto asked, as he got himself into bed with a hot chocolate. 

“I promise.” Ardyn smiled, kissing him on the forehead before sitting at the end of Prom’s bed, making sure he didn’t accidentally sit on Prom’s chocobo doll. “You will be surprised to know that Regis has a brain and was the one that got us off the hook.”

“Don’t be mean.” Prompto laughed, it was very unlikely to be the goofy yet loveable King to sort something as serious as that out. But Prom had always had faith in his uncle. However, the boy’s laughter soon died down into a nervous chuckle and he had to get something off his chest. “Dad? I didn’t mean to do that. If I knew any of that was going to happen, I swear, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“I know you wouldn’t have. It’s my fault really I should have made it clearer to you, that we don’t discuss that part of our family history to anybody. I shouldn’t have shouted or made you cry. I am sorry for that. Do you forgive me?” Ardyn asked, not expecting to be at all forgiven for how he behaved towards his son. It was simply unacceptable, he would have killed anyone who shouted at his Prom like that. 

Prom smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I do. And I am sorry if I upset you with mentioning Aera and stuff.” 

“You didn’t upset me, Sunbeam. It was just a bit of a shock that’s all. Talking about her and her death doesn’t upset me, but it does make me think about how bad mine and Somnus’s relationship can get and I hate that we have allowed it to become like that. That is why I don’t like reading it or discussing it; I rarely discuss it with your father.”

“Okay.” Prom said, taking a sip of his drink, knowing that his dad probably didn’t want to talk about it further. 

“Anyway, I better go and see if your father has recovered from his migraine. And make sure Cerbie hasn’t peed everywhere.” Ardyn smiled, sliding off the bed to get to his feet and before he left he looked at his son and gave him a soft smile. “Prompto. I will always talk to you about our family. Even the parts that I don’t like discussing. Because I trust you, okay.” 

“Okay, dad. Love you.” 

“I love you too, My Sunbeam. And I want that light off within the hour.”

“Yes, dad.” 

When the door closed, Prompto let out a sigh and got a copy of his essay out of his bag. He couldn’t believe this. All this trouble over one stupid paper. He’d asked Somnus to burn it for him tomorrow and ask Mr Spinner if he could redo the work and if he could take it off all the systems in the school if he hadn’t done so already. But that was tomorrow's job. For now, Prom was going to bed. 

He was bloody exhausted. 


End file.
